Block Island officials defend room in school basement

10:23 AM EDT on Saturday, June 14, 2008

By Katie MulvaneyJournal Staff Writer

NEW SHOREHAM — Room 20 in the basement of the Block Island School is small and bare. Its concrete floor is painted green, its ceiling sky blue with white clouds, its main window covered with plywood. And, until earlier this week, its knob-less door had double bolts on the outside.

An anonymous letter raising questions about the room and a DVD showing it arrived at The Providence Journal, three television stations, and the attorney general’s office last week. In the brief video, a camera silently pans the room, showing the locks. It also shows pillows and blankets in a jumble on the floor, an open utility outlet, chipped paint and fingerprints smudging the walls. The letter makes no allegations, but raises questions about whether unruly children might have been sent there.

On Tuesday, Davida Irving, principal of the two-story school since last July, acknowledged that there might be such a room, but didn’t know its location. She said she had been told it was developed in consultation with Bradley Hospital as a space for a child “to chill out.” Asked if there were external locks, she went to look, returning perplexed. “I’ve never seen a student locked in there since I’ve been here,” she said.

During the interview, she placed a call to Supt. Leslie A. Ryan, who was off island. Ryan told her not to let a reporter see the room.

When the superintendent, who doubles as special-education director, returned on the 3 p.m. ferry, she said the school lawyer would issue a statement the next day as she stormed to her car.
Calls that evening to all five School Committee members were not returned. Teachers reached for comment said they knew nothing of the room, or were reluctant to talk. One said it was a special-education issue and she didn’t have the authority to discuss it.

Jack Lyle, the school’s previous superintendent, said there was no such room when he led the district from 2004 until Ryan took over in 2006. “That wouldn’t have happened on my watch,” Lyle, now a practicing lawyer, said. “That would go against every fabric of my being.”

An official at Bradley Hospital denied any involvement. “There is not a chance. Nobody would have worked on a room like that,” said Dr. Dale Radka, director of Bradley School who oversees all consultation with school districts. “Bradley doesn’t consult anybody about these kinds of locked facilities.”

It is common, he said, to have focus rooms in which students can quietly calm down, but a locked seclusion room would only be used as a last resort to prevent a very disturbed child from endangering him or herself or others. But, he added, there should be stringent policies and a highly trained staff in place first.

He speculated that more districts would turn to such approaches as budget cutbacks sway them to integrate high-needs children into public schools.

The Journal returned to the Block Island school Wednesday morning, and Ryan again rebuffed attempts to view the room, saying she had to protect students. She handed out a statement that read:

The Block Island School excels in providing support and appropriate education to all of its students. We have never taken punitive action involving locked doors or any other archaic practice. Specifics of behavior plans designed for special-needs students are confidential and, on this island, can prompt immediate identification of the student. We have a team of qualified and caring teachers and therapists who advocate every single day for every single child.”

Ryan refused to answer questions. “I’ve given you a statement and that’s the end.”

She referred the reporter to Vincent Carlone, the island’s chief of police.

In his office looking out on Old Harbor, where the ferries come in, Carlone said that he investigated the room Tuesday after a television reporter asked about it. He concluded there were no safety concerns, adding that the two outside locks had already been removed.

The district created the room, he said, as a way to keep a specific child with violent tendencies on the island, instead of being sent to a residential facility away from family. A difficulty of living on an island is having limited access to services readily available on the mainland, he said.

Asked why a police chief was talking about an education matter, he said school officials were restricted by “confidentiality laws.”

The superintendent told him, he said, that one or two aides always accompanied the child. The room was used “infrequently” and had not been used “recently,” he said. He was unable to be more specific. He said he had heard nothing about any other children being placed in the room.

“I don’t know if they locked that lock,” he said. But, he said, the child enjoys the room.

“No one’s in danger,” the chief said. School officials “go out of their way to help the kids.”

He emphasized that the superintendent told him the room had been set up in consultation with Bradley, an East Providence hospital specializing in children facing emotional, mental and behavioral challenges.

Told that Bradley denied any involvement with the room, the chief said, “They [school officials] wouldn’t lie to me.”

Repeated efforts to get the name of the Bradley contact were denied. School lawyer Denise Myers said, through the chief, that such disclosure would violate a federal law that protects the privacy of personal health information.

After getting clearance from Myers, Carlone took The Journal to see the room. A Journal photographer, however, was barred from taking pictures.

A thin floor mat lay in one corner with a pile of fabric resembling a blanket on top. The plywood on the window is there to prevent a student from striking the glass, Carlone said. The door has a small rectangular window and holes where the locks had been removed.

“If they made a mistake, they made a mistake with the locks,” the chief said. “But they certainly didn’t do it to hurt anyone.”

The wife of a School Committee member reprimanded the reporter, saying it was a private matter.

The state police and a prosecutor from the attorney general’s office visited the school Thursday. They will discuss their evaluation with state education officials, Maj. Steven G. O’Donnell said later.

The investigation is expected to conclude in the next few weeks, according to Michael J. Healey, spokesman for the attorney general.

“It looks like the room was used as some sort of time-out space,” Healey said. “I really doubt we’re talking about anything of a criminal nature.”

After The Journal inquired about regulations involving locked isolation rooms, Marvin Abney, the assistant to the education commissioner for equality and access, called school officials Thursday. He was assured that the locks had been taken off the room, Elliot Krieger, spokesman for the Department of Education, said.

Rhode Island regulations do not allow unobserved time-out rooms or rooms used solely for time-outs. They also do not allow a student to be confined alone in a room without access to school staff.

“Any kid in a locked room would concern the state — period,” Krieger said. “That seems to be a safety problem.”

Yesterday afternoon, the School Committee met in closed session to discuss the issue. Chairman Bill Padien could not be reached for comment.

The individual behind the DVD and the letter sought anonymity yesterday, saying he feared there would be retribution against his family for blowing the whistle on the locked room in the basement.
kmulvane@projo.com